ABSTRACT ?NATIONAL ALLIANCE DISSEMINATION AND IMPLEMENTATION CONFERENCE Employers are a major source of health insurance, yet they do not fully use their purchasing power and data to drive healthcare improvement. The National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) is proposing to promote employer engagement through a dissemination and implementation conference. The conference will demonstrate how employers and regional health care purchaser coalitions effectively use data and tools to drive improvements in health care outcomes. Our conference, ?Advancing the Employer?s Role in Healthcare Quality and Safety: Data, Evidence and Tools for Improvement? will feature purchaser coalitions engaged in local initiatives to improve quality and safety. Panels will also include thought leaders who are driving innovations in data reporting, quality, and safety. Our goal is to measurably improve employer and stakeholder engagement in local healthcare quality improvement efforts by demonstrating tools and models for successful interventions. We expect 150 diverse stakeholders to participate, including purchasing coalitions, employers, health plans, invited consumers and delivery system representatives. The conference structure will facilitate dialogue between experts and those in the trenches. AHRQ representatives will be invited to discuss best practices in using data and other tools to drive improvements. We will weave AHRQ information throughout the conference and dedicate one session to strategies for using AHRQ data resources ? MEPS, HCUP, and CAHPS ? to support employer-driven healthcare quality improvement efforts. Throughout, we will discuss what data purchasers need to support an evidence-based approach to intervention and improvement. We anticipate using interactive smart-phone based technology to interact with the participants. In each session participants will be asked, ?How can this information be made more meaningful to employers?? and ?What is the best idea from this session that will help employers to drive patient-centered, evidence-based delivery system improvements?? The National Alliance will disseminate findings to amplify reach of the conference. Dissemination strategies are: 1) A written Action Brief - a concise online summary highlighting key heath care issues, challenges, and opportunities along with employer strategies for action. 2) A national webinar addressing key findings and actionable interventions. 3) The Principal Investigator Bruce Sherman, MD, will submit a blog posting summarizing conference takeaways to the Health Affairs blog. Both the conference and the post-conference regional dissemination work will feature AHRQ tools and other resources to focus employer/stakeholder efforts to improve local healthcare delivery systems.